Gracism

This morning at church we had the privilege of hearing Dr. David Anderson speak about Gracism. Gracism is looking at color, class, and culture in a positive way by extending the love of God to people of all backgrounds. He mentioned that by being a Gracist we are being bridge builders, connecting to each other as the body of Christ.

Gracism is based on 1 Corinthians 12.

A couple of take-aways that stuck with me are these: There is a difference between a church that is multicolor and a church that is multicultural. Multicolor is just that: faces of different colors within the church, but their stories aren't acknowledged. A church that is multicultural is one who has faces of all different colors who are recognized and their stories are heard making them connected with each other in the body of Christ. Our stories and journeys are what bring us closer as the body of Christ.

The second take-away: One of the 7 Sayings of being a Gracist: I will stand with you (1 Corinthians 12:25) If we are the majority in any given situation, our job is to reach out to the outside of the circle to help the minorities no matter who they are or the color of their skin. God has shown positive favor for you and me regardless of the color of our skin, our culture or our class. We are all part of the body of Christ working together for the same cause.

I encourage you to do 3 things if you feel led to do so:

1) Listen to his message by clicking this link http://956fa994854188911909-c71cb442ed95f1221771aafb2743621…

2) Pick up a copy of Gracism: The Art of Inclusion by Dr. David Anderson. We are reading it as a church (though Stefan and I just picked up our copy today!)

3) Find ways in your community, church, etc. where you can become a bridge builder connecting cultures to one another in the body of Christ.

To learn more about David Anderson and his ministry, click here.

Peace and Love.

Spring Is FINALLY Here!

Green grass, blooming flowers, warmer temperatures. Spring is finally arriving here in Connecticut, and this Mississippi girl is shouting for joy! Shorts, sandals, and sundresses have made their way into my closet. The hubby's polo shirts always stay in the closet, so he's always set for warmer temperatures. If you looked into our closet, he has more clothes on his side, but I have more shoes so I guess that evens it out.

My parents and grandmother came to visit us last month. (My dad and other grandparents will visit next month!) We were so very excited to get to spend time with them. While Stefan was working, we went to a few antique stores. Check out my cranberry rake I scored for $5.

I placed it on the top of our cabinets in the kitchen. The goal is to have a few antiques there to fill in the huge empty space between our cabinets and ceiling.
We took a Saturday drive down scenic route 146. It takes you from Branford, CT to Guilford, CT. It was a beautiful drive. We ended up in Guilford, which is everything you think of when you think of a New England town. We weren't very far from the Long Island Sound, so we ventured there. It was windy and a bit chilly, but the sun was out and that made it worth it.

Since we were close to the coast, we had to stop for seafood. My dad is a huge lover of seafood, and can't pass up an opportunity to eat it. Really our whole family is that way.

Stefan and I drove to New Haven to visit Yale's campus. New Haven is a fun place and the campus of Yale is beautiful. Since it's not very far from us, only 30 minutes or so, we plan to go back and get some good pictures. This one was taken from my phone. It's not the best, but it will do.

Stefan continues to enjoy his job at ESPN. I could not be more proud of him for living out his dream. While being a substitute at a school here was a nice job to have, there were some unforeseen events that really shed some light on if this was where God wanted me to have a career. I had some time to pray about it and through the guidance of the Lord, Stefan, and my family, I decided that being at this particular school wasn't the best fit for me or my teaching career. The Lord continued to work in my favor, and while we were concerned that it was only Stefan bringing in the income, we knew that the Lord would provide for us, as He always does. And provide for us, He did. I was offered a job at a childcare center teaching pre-school. This next week will be my fourth week there, and it reminds me of teaching at Church Hill in MS. The staff have been so welcoming and we're like a little family. I enter the school each day, eager to see my sweet preschool friends and my coworkers, something that I did not feel when I was working as a substitute. All in all, I know the Lord had his hand in the situation, and made it work for the better.

We have met some wonderful people here through our jobs and our church. A friend Stefan met at MSU through his communications program who is also working at ESPN invited us to Calvary Fellowship in West Hartford. Though it is a much bigger church, it reminds us of the Connection services we left behind in Starkville. We are hoping to join a home fellowship (like a small group) in May. We felt as if something was missing once we started attending the services. The Sunday before last we realized what it was. We missed serving. We made the decision to serve on Easter Sunday. Stefan served as a greeter, and I served in the Children's Ministry teaching one of the Pre-School classes. (Where else would I be?!)

That's an update on our lives here the past month. We miss Mississippi and Starkville so much! (Really we just miss the South in all its warmness!) Right now it's been raining a good bit, and it will continue next week. We'll take rain over snow any day!

My hair is short now, but my hubby is still as handsome as ever!

Books

Any person who knows me will tell you that I came from a family of readers. My sister and I love books, libraries, book stores, and any place that has books. Seriously, one of the first orders of business upon moving was finding the local library. One summer, when we were little girls, our mom read the entire Little House on the Prairie series. If you've never read this series of books, I am sad for you. Once you finish reading this post, you should find the books and read them. Go to your local library. They will have them. They are classics. I can and will spend hours on end in the library. It's a great way to pass the time, and borrowing books is great if you love to read, but are on a budget.

I love to read, but I don't always have make time to read. I take that back. I make time to read things like backs of cereal boxes, signs as I'm driving, sale papers, articles, and magazines. I can come up with a million and one excuses about not reading a book,  when in all honesty, it's because I don't make time to read. It's sad for me to admit that, but now I am doing something about it.

Before we moved I read about "The Empty Shelf Challenge". This is a challenge for the lovers of books to take in order to read more books than they did the previous year. 

The challenge goes like this: 

1. Empty one shelf on your bookshelf, nightstand, or wherever you keep your books.
2. Each time you complete a book take a picture of it on your shelf. The book doesn't have to be a literary classic. It can be a book that doesn't make you think, self-help book, chick lit, any other book that you want to read. The point is to read more.
3. Upload to any type of social media you may use: Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. with the hashtag #EmptyShelfChallenge
4. Repeat with each new book you read and pretty soon you'll have a shelf full of new books that you have read.
5. If you want to make it more fun, you can set a goal for yourself. I set the goal of "Let's see how many books I can read this year".

Now, if you borrow a book from the library, it can't just stay on your bookshelf forever. (The library frowns upon book stealing, as does society. Don't steal books, no matter how much you love them!) Put the book on your bookshelf at home, snap the picture, then return the borrowed book.

If you prefer to read your books on a Kindle, Nook, or other tablet, take a picture of the screen and upload it with the number the book is in your reading challenge. If you're like me and you don't care which way you read the book, digitally or physically flipping the pages, you might have to figure out a system that works best for you. 

I was in the middle of packing up our belongings when I decided to try this challenge, so the bookshelf was already packed up and wrapped up in shrink wrap. I also failed to take pictures of the books I have read, so you will just have to take my word. I will start taking pictures of what I read. I just opted to keep count of the number of books I have read since starting the challenge on December 24th.
Here are the book titles I've read

1. Dancing On Broken Glass- Ka Hancock
2. Things We Set On Fire- Deborah Reed
3. Timebound- Rysa Walker
4. One For the Money- Janet Evanovich
5. Two for the Show- Janet Evanovich
6. Three to Get Deadly- Janet Evanovich

I've only read six books, but it's not a bad start since it's just now February. I am just beginning the fourth book in the Stephanie Plum series. I plan to read the entire Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich. If you need a good suspense-comedy book to read, I recommend this series. Evanovich's character Stephanie Plum is a lingerie buyer turned bounty hunter. This character will make you laugh with her quick wit and not-so-good bounty hunter abilities. Read them. They are great!

I would love for you to take the Empty Shelf Challenge with me! If you need suggestions for books click here to go to the #emptyshelfchallenge page for Twitter. I would love to hear your book recommendations!

Also, if you are an Amazon Prime member and you have a Kindle tablet, you can get one pre-released book each month. They are called Kindle Firsts, and they are set to be published in March. These are the Kindle Firsts for February.

Settling In

We've been in Connecticut a little over a week. We are enjoying the town of Southington very much. In some ways it reminds me of the South (not temperature wise, mind you), but it reminds me that home is over 1000 miles away. The snow has finally melted, but more is expected to fall this week. I can't help but get excited each time I see just the smallest percentage of snow.

The first order of business after we dropped our fathers off at the airport was to meander to IKEA (of course!). Stefan had never been to one, so I felt that it needed to happen ASAP. We picked out a few pieces of furniture to put some money back to purchase later on this spring/summer. He started work Monday, and is loving every minute of it. These next few weeks will take some getting used to for both of us. Please keep us in your prayers as we adjust to working completely different hours. His hours will vary greatly from mine (4pm-12am with Tuesdays and Wednesdays off of work). Being a production wife can be challenging with changing schedules and hours, (he will say it's true as well) but it's also filled with adventures. Thankfully, I will start my job as a building substitute tomorrow for a local elementary school. This town as 8 elementary schools!! I called this week to ask what time I needed to arrive on Monday. I was told the students come in before 8:20, when the students arrive in the classrooms. Students start school later here, my fellow MS teacher friends, of course, they also don't get out of school until June 13 (they start after Labor Day.

Friday I didn't have anything to do (I have I mentioned how excited I am to have a job now?) so I drove around town looking for some cute little shops to browse. There aren't any. Not one. This town in all its hustle and bustle has not one cute little boutique to its name. There is TJMaxx, Bed, Bath, and Beyond, and a few little other franchises. Don't get me wrong, I love all of those stores, but I was looking for local boutique shops. In the surrounding towns there are a few little shops here and there. We are living in Central Connecticut, so we are a short distance from surrounding cities. NYC is 1.5 hours by train, and Boston is about 2 hours by train. We are excited to have new places to explore!

We found a church that we like. A few of the people Stefan worked with during his internship (from the South!) who are now working with ESPN, invited us to a contemporary church in West Hartford. We love it there. The people are friendly and we have enjoyed meeting new people. My mom and dad are coming to visit in a few weeks, and Stefan's parents are coming to visit this summer. We will be ready to see them for sure!

We miss everyone so very much! We miss Starkville and the South, and can't wait to come back to visit in the future!

Connecticut

We are currently in Pennsylvania. It's 5 degrees. Cold is an understatement. We will (finally) be in Connecticut tomorrow. Stefan and I are so very excited to call the beautiful state our new home. He will start his job with ESPN on Monday. Leaving Mississippi was sad, but we know the Lord has so much in store for us in CT. We both know that this is where He has led us and for that we are so grateful.

While in transit to CT we have seen so much snow! The snow storm hit us once we arrived in Virginia. We immediately decided we should stop for the night. This morning we drove until we arrived in Scranton (which made me think of The Office, even though I don't watch the show). It is currently 3 degrees right now. That's too cold for this Mississippi girl.

Stefan and I can't want to get settled into our new home. There will be so much to explore and photograph. I. Can't. Wait!

Something Old, Something New....

"Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue". I've heard that phrase often over the past couple of years as I have watched many of my close friends walk down the aisle to marry the "man of their dreams", "the one", "their best friend".

On July 20, 2013 I will be doing the same thing. I will be marrying my best friend. My soul mate. The man who challenges me to be a better Christian. The man who has a big heart, and loves to help people. It feels wonderful to be engaged to such a caring and compassionate man. The Lord brought us together, and for that I am so very thankful.


How We Met
Stefan and I met at First United Methodist Church in Starkville. Our paths crossed often, most of the time on Sunday mornings when we both worked with the Television Media Ministry. He also locks up the church during the week. We would hang out together at the church, and I would accompany him when he locked up. We always had things to talk about.

The first time he asked me on a date, I declined his invitation.
The second time he asked me on a date, I again declined his invitations (I told you guys I wasn't looking to date anyone)
The third time, it was almost a date. We went to eat a late dinner after a church event. When the waiter asked if the checks were together or separate, I immediately said separate.
The fourth time he asked me on a date, I thought to myself "This guy has got to be something special to keep pursing me the way he is". I finally agreed to go on the date.

It's been 2 years, and I'm so thankful I said "yes".

The Proposal
Stefan has always planned wonderful dates. So when he told me that he had a "special date" planned, I didn't think anything of it. (Looking back on it now, it did seem strange that he wanted to have a date on Sunday.)

He was a little late coming back from work, and I had been waiting a while. I was not very happy about him running late. He told me that he had to stop by the Mississippi State University Stadium (his work) to get something from his boss. I wasn't happy about that either. He drove us to the stadium, and asked me to come with him. (At this point I should mention that it was raining, and had been raining all day.) I told him I wasn't getting out of the car, but he eventually convinced me it would only take a few minutes. 

Reluctantly I left the car and walked into Davis Wade Stadium with him. The video board in the stadium was flashing the Mississippi State graphic (I still had NO idea at this point). Stefan called his boss and said "I can check that graphic now".  The graphic flashed up and this is what it said:

At this point he was down on one knee with this GORGEOUS ring (that he picked out himself). When I looked at it I cried, y'all! CRIED! To the point where all I could do was nod my head yes. He had to confirm that it was a yes. It was perfect. The rain made it that much more prefect. My family was there, my best friend and her husband were there, our good friends (who happen to be our photographer & videographer, and who also captured the proposal), my future mother & father-in-law as well as one of my sister & brother-in-laws (I'll have 2!!!!) It was perfect. Even now, as I type this, I have a grin on my face remembering it all. 

I'm so excited to be a bride! I'm even more excited to be marrying the man of my dreams, my best friend, my forever.

Some after pictures of the proposal:

Seriously a mess. Mascara running, hair wet (you would have never known I had curled it just for our date!)

My wonderful mom & dad! My sister was home from Oregon for Christmas!! She was able to celebrate with us.

Much better picture of us! We were all dry...finally. This is a picture of me (on the right) my future sister-in-law (Shannah), Stefan (my FIANCE), and my future brother-in-law (Rob). (My other sister & brother-in-law weren't able to make it there for the proposal.)

I should be in bed by now.....off I go! More wedding posts to come soon!!

A New Recipe and Then Some

10 days until Thanksgiving Break. 10 days. It seems like it's 10 months away! I'm in need of a break, as are my sweet little 1st graders! I enjoy every minute I get to spend with them.

The boyfriend can tell you that I spend A LOT of time on Pinterest (you know, finding new teaching ideas and other professional development. Maybe one day they will see it and give us those CEUs we always need.) I don't think he minds as much when he sees I'm pinning recipes to feed him. I recently pinned this recipe on my Winter Food board (it's barely fall here in good ole Mississippi, but wishful thinking has me cooking up a storm).

Tonight I decided to give that recipe a try. I failed miserably and did not get one picture of me ACTUALLY making the casserole, but the end product is really what matters most, right? This was the result:

It was delicious. Next time I'm going to sautee some onions and maybe put some bacon in it. Everything tastes better with bacon.

October

I mean, is it REALLY almost the middle of October?! Where has the time gone? I am such a slacker when it comes to this little blog. Seriously, my last post was in August. SO much as happened since then. For starters, my sweet boyfriend is back home from his internship with ESPN. I missed him terribly, but it was such a great experience for him. We are both praying that it will open doors for him when he graduates in May.
My sister moved here to start her graduate program at Portland State:

I have since moved downstairs to her old apartment.

I bought one of these:

And am now officially in debt.

I celebrated my 25th birthday (Yikes!) with the one I love (who presented me with some awesome gifts, though he really didn't have to.)

I have also been busy doing the craft things for my church's holiday bazaar in November. Jewelry, wreaths, etc.

And I've happily watched as my MSU Bulldogs have become 6-0 for the first time since 1999. (That TN game last Saturday was a nail biter!)

In between all of that I've been teaching my little first graders everything they need to know. (Really teaching is a large part of what I do, but I think it's just as much fun as all of these other things.) I LOVE 1st grade. We have been hard at work with subtraction, which is very difficult for my little bunch if I must say. Thursday we leave for a field trip to the Pumpkin Patch. I'm so excited about this trip. I have my batteries charged for my Canon, and I'm going to be doing some picture taking. I thought it would be great to give parents pictures of their babies picking out a pumpkin.

It is late, and I have to be up at 5:30. Now that I am caught up with this blogging deal, I hope to get better with updates. 

Almost time!!

School has officially started! I'm sitting here on this gorgeous 81 degree weather writing lesson plans and grading assessments. The life of a teacher. This first school week was absolutely one of the best! My sweet little first graders are so precious! I have fallen in love with each and every one of them! I'm very excited to see what this school year has in store!

I'm also very excited because on Monday when I get home from work I will finally be seeing this face

I am beyond excited and counting down the days and hours (1 day 10 hours). I went to the beautiful state of Connecticut to visit for a few days in July. He signed us up for a tour of ESPN. Once that finished up he bought me a late lunch at the ESPN Cafe, where he introduced me to a turkey, avocado, and fried egg sandwich. Don't knock it. It was actually pretty good!

We went to NYC for 2 days and enjoyed every minute of it. We have found, however, that living in the city is not ideal for us, but living just a train ride away is divine. While there he graciously let me get my teacher fix here

Seriously. A teacher's dream. AND teachers get an extra 15% off every day. Needless to day, I was pretty excited. We also stopped to get a Crumbs cupcake to share. 

We walked the Brooklyn Bridge and into the beautiful neighborhoods of Brooklyn where we came upon a small Italian bistro. We fell in love with it. Homemade pasta and wonderful people was what this bistro was all about.

Then, to indulge Stefan we went here where we spent about 2 hours just walking through the store and viewing all of the photography and cinematography equipment. We're tech nerds of course. 

My boyfriend is handsome, and I am very ready to see him Monday. I'm even making him a welcome home cheesecake (his favorite dessert). I'm such a good girlfriend!

School Is Near

I go back to school officially next Thursday! Where has summer gone?? I am happy to say that I will be teaching 1st grade in a new school district this year! I'm a little nervous because of my experience from last year, but I have decided that I'm not going to dwell on last year. This is a new slate, a new district, new friends, new everything. I'm going to be a Positive Polly. I have been diligently working in my classroom for the past few weeks, but I still feel that I have SO much to do before August 7th when the kiddos come back. My classroom hasn't been used as an actual classroom for a few years, so when I first saw it it looked like this:

I can't even begin to tell you what kind of things where in those cubbies.

Needless to say I was quite overwhelmed. I immediately got to work and tackled the clutter. I have since turned it into this:

My cute little writing center table. It had outdated contact paper on it and it just looked gross. So I went to my friend TJ MAXX, and found this super cute Laura Ashley contact paper.

My computer center with my math shelf. (I like things organized by subject. It makes me feel better.)

 The front of the classroom, minus the touch point numbers below.

 My touch point numbers! I used my handy dandy Cricut to make these. (Seriously, if you're a teacher, and you don't have one of these babies, it's worth the investment! I got mine at Dirt Cheap for a hundred bucks!!) They actually have a Christmas in July Special deal right now. You can get a Cricut Expression with a Quilted Christmas Cartridge for $169. Check it out here. I didn't get a chance to use touch point math when I was teaching 4th grade, so I'm excited to be able to use these.


The Desk Fairy will be visiting my classroom this year. Thanks to Sarah Cooley's super cute desk fairy template, the Desk Fairy will be ready to hand out those awards. Check out the rest of Sarah's blog First Grader.....At Last for some really great ideas!



Well, the boyfriend will be back from his internship at ESPN August 13th!!!!!! (Can you tell how excited I am?!?!) I went to visit him earlier this month, and so this post isn't any longer, that will be a separate post later today.

What I've Learned....

2 and 1/2 more days then I am finished with my first year of teaching! I can honestly say that this has been a learning experience. I've learned about the kind of teacher I want to be, and the kind of teacher I don't want to be. I've learned the reality that although I want every child to succeed, some will succeed more than others. I've learned that you can't help a student who doesn't want to be helped, and who has no motivation to learn no matter how hard you try to motivate them. I've learned about each of my students' little personalities and quirks. Things that make them sad and happy. I've learned that even the most troubled of students will find their way into your heart, and then will make you want to pull your hair out the next minute. No matter how mad you get at them because they just won't sit down and stop dancing around the room, you can't help but love them for who they are and the way God created them to be. I've learned how to be more organized. I've learned that sometimes you just have to shut your classroom door and teach the way you've been taught to teach. I've learned that having other teachers who support you and encourage you can make all the difference in your year and how it turns out.

Overall I have had a good year. It's been REALLY tough though. Between teaching to the test and being called in for meetings because things just aren't working the way other people think they should work, I've learned to look on the positive side and still keep my desire for serving the Lord through teaching His children. So I look back on this job with all of its ups and downs with nothing but gratitude, because if I had not had the down parts, I wouldn't have learned so much.

Pickle Week 2012

We finished our 2nd day of state testing! Hooray!! My little fourth graders worked so hard this morning. Tomorrow we tackle the Math portion of the test, then we will be FINISHED! They are as glad as I am. To celebrate the end of testing AND because we have one more full week of school, my sweet class and I will be participating in Pickle Week 2012 which will be May 17- 28. I know what you must be thinking: There's a week devoted to pickles?? The answer is YES! I mean, who doesn't think this is a nifty idea?? Now, I didn't just magically find this out. I owe the credit to my fellow teacher friends. 

Next week my class will be learning all about pickles: where they come from, how they are made, the different types of pickles. They will even learn about their birth month pickle (seriously, there's a pickle for each month of the year. Now for the best part: Kool-Aid Pickles. I like Kool-Aid, and I like pickles. So imagine my surprise and happiness when I was given a recipe for Kool-Aid Pickles or Koolickles as the recipe calls them. In order to make these happen you need a few things:

1 gallon jar of pickles 

(obviously, from the pictures you will see I could not find a 1 gallon jar of pickles in Wal Mart....this is why I HATE Wal Mart....but that's another story for another day)

1 pound of sugar

1 packet of unsweetened Cherry Kool-Aid

(it calls for Cherry, but I couldn't find regular Cherry, and sometimes I like to deviate from the recipe so I bought Black Cherry.)

Drain the pickle juice into another container.

 Pour the packet of Kool-Aid into the container of pickle juice.

Add the sugar to the liquid.

Stir until sugar is dissolved.

Pour liquid back into pickle jars or jar...depending on which you find. There will be a little liquid left over. Just make sure it covers the top of the pickles.

 Put the top on those jars, and put them in the fridge for about a week (this is what I was told).

Voila! Koolickles!

P.S.- The leftover liquid is sitting in my freezer to make pickle-cisicles per the boyfriend's request. I've never heard of these things, but apparently they are good according to his stories about having them at the baseball fields. I'll find out tomorrow.

P.P.S- Pickle juice is also good for stopping hiccups. FYI.

Peace, Love, and Happy Pickle Week!!!!

Cinco de Mayo Wedding & A Storage Locker Surprise

I know this is quite an unusual title for a blog post. They have nothing in common, except for me.
My weekend started on Thursday last week when the boyfriend & I went to the wedding festivities of our two close friends who got married on Saturday!! (Congratulations again, Lindsay & Will!) They are now on their honeymoon in St. Lucia. The wedding festivities began Friday night with the rehearsal dinner and didn't end until late Saturday evening. There was dancing, cake, wine, and more dancing. It was truly a fairytale wedding for my very best friend who deserved nothing less. Stefan and I had a wonderful time. (I'm also just glad I didn't trip on my bridesmaid's dress walking down the aisle, and that I didn't cry during the song Ray and I sang.)

The beautiful bride & me.

Now on to the Storage Locker Surprise. My wonderful father (who is retiring this year after 30 years of teaching! WHAT?!) watches is addicted to the T.V. Storage Wars, and I'm not going to lie, I enjoy watching the show as well. Do I have any other Storage Wars watchers? Anyone? Anyone? Anyways, he bought this storage locker earlier in the week and found that it was FILLED with teacher stuff! Mostly K-1st grade things (which I will be able to use next year because I will be teaching 1st grade!!!) He immediately called me and asked if I wanted the things in the lockers, and of course I said yes! (Who would say no to free teacher things???) I offered to pay him for it, but because he loves me so & I'm his favorite daughter (shhhhh...don't tell Camille) he said I did not have to pay for it. I'm still giving him money though. 

Here is a picture of the front of the storage locker. 

I went through some of it today, but it is freaking HOT in Mississippi right now. In fact, I think we skipped over spring entirely this year. Needless to stay, I didn't stay very long.

Going to leave you on that note to watch GCB with the boyfriend! Season finale tonight!

Count Down: BFFFL's Wedding, MCT2, and End of School

BFFFL's Wedding: 12 days. MCT: 11 days. Last Day of School: 21 1/2

My life has been utter chaos the past few weeks. Preparing for my best friend's wedding, getting my sweet 4th graders ready for the state test, and helping Stefan get things in order for is internship for ESPN this summer (I'm SOOO proud of him!!!) I'm trying to come up with some super fun things to do with my sweet babies after all their hard work after testing. I am now welcoming ideas. I have a few pinned to my Pinterest board. 

Photography Show, Spring Break, and Crayon Art

It's FINALLY Spring Break!! I thought 3:20 on Friday afternoon would never come. But it did and I am one happy lady.

Last week, Stefan and I attended an art show at our friends' studio. Renee and Will Reedy own a studio in downtown Columbus. Renee is a photographer (like myself) and Will is a cinematographer (like Stefan). Stefan and I met this lovely couple through our church. Will is our new worship leader in our contemporary service, and Renee plays the keyboard in the praise band. When we found out that both Will and Renee were into photography and cinematography we were ecstatic! Since then we have had many chats about church, faith, and the arts. Stefan and I are both looking forward to what God has in store for this new friendship.

I have been meaning to be more crafty lately, but time has been something I have not had. I took the opportunity on this beautiful day to do something crafty after my sister and I came back from shopping. I have seen this crayon art deal going on through Pinterest (where else?), and I thought I would give it a try. I apologize that I didn't take picture throughout the project. You'll just get to see the finished product. The one on the left is the version that is seen on Pinterest. I used an 8 x 10 canvas and just chose different shades of the same crayon. (I bought a box of 96 crayons just for this occasion!) The one on the right is a different version of crayon art (Stefan's idea but my work.)

As seen on Pinterest.

 Stefan's idea of crayon art. I did the work.

I know this picture isn't crayon art. I just like it. Stefan doesn't like pictures so I rarely get one with him in it. 

Writer's Block

I'm still here, just with a bad case of writer's block. I hope to have some things to post soon.

'Tis the Season

It's Christmas time already! If you know me, you know that Christmas is one of my most favorite holidays. I look forward to it because I get to spend time with my family all while celebrating the birth of Jesus. This Christmas has been a humbling experience for so many reasons. One reason in particular shed quite a bit of light on what Christmas is really all about. It's so easy to get carried away with buying and giving gifts, and sometimes we forget what this holiday is really about. It's easy to focus on the materialistic things of Christmas. My prayer for myself for these past few days has been to help me to not lose sight of the "reason for the season" (for lack of a better phrase....I know it's a corny phrase, but it's true).

I'm out of school until January 9th. Though I am in need of a break, I will miss my sweet little 4th graders. I'll be working hard to get things in order for this next semester. It's hard to imagine my first year of teaching is halfway over. It's had its ups and downs, but nonetheless it's been a wonderful experience. I'll be doing literature circles when we start back, and I'm so excited about them. I've been doing a good bit of research about them. If you read my blog (do people even read this?) and have some knowledge of literature circles or even ideas, let me know! Like I said, I'm very excited about starting these in my classroom.

I'm using this break to catch up on my crafts board on Pinterest. I feel as if it has been neglected lately.

If I don't write until after Christmas, Merry Christmas to you and your families. I pray that you have a safe and wonderful holiday.

Recycling Glass Jars

In my family we have a few odd traditions. Where we spend our Thanksgiving depends on where the Egg Bowl is played that year. We watch the Christmas Story 24 hour event every Christmas. And we drink milk out of frozen mason jars. People that come to my apartment say it's quite strange. If you were to open my freezer you would see about ten of these said jars. I decided to downsize the number of jars, but needed something creative to do with a few of them. Of course I would turn to Pinterest for this project. I found this article in my research of crafty things to do with my jars, now all I needed was some spare time. Between teaching, lesson planning, daily chores, and a social life, my spare time is just that.

Two weekends ago I had a free weekend. Stefan was at UAB working the MSU v. UAB game. I had some friends come into town from the coast. While I was waiting on my friends to arrive I decided to dive into making my jars into tea light candle holders.

The materials needed.

Put the twine on the jars in different designs. It helps to tape the the ends to the inside or on the bottom.

It's also nice to have some helping hands! (Thanks, Mom!)

Jars after coats of white spray paint. I put 1-2 coats.

Let it dry for 10 minutes.

Take the twine off and you have beautiful tea light candle holders!

Pretty easy, don't you think?

A Good Luck Charm

I've had the wreath finished for about a week now. I've just been busy with my little 4th graders and barely have time in the evenings to post anything crafty. I'll get better.

My MSU wreath is finished just in time to cheer on my beloved Mississippi State Bulldogs at their first home game against LSU on Thursday. I have I said that school gets out early on Thursday? My students are as excited as I am! (Them probably being more excited that we have a half day on Thursday.)

I want to make more of these to sell to friends, family or whoever. So if you or anyone you know might want a ribbon wreath of any kind, let me know!

If you know anything about me, then you know that I absolutely love to cook, and that I am on the crafty side. I have this lamp in my room that I have been meaning to do something with, and a stack of old magazines that I have yet to recycle. I'm sure my next post will have something to do with the lamp. Until then, love and peace.

Just In Time For Football Season

After being obsessed with Pinterest, and stumbling upon this blog post by She's {Kinda} Crafty blogger Stacey, I just HAD to make a wreath in my Dear Ole State's colors of maroon and white. While I have not yet finished it, I am giving you readers two photos of what it looks like now. It is almost finished, I just have to get the letters on it. It's my first attempt at doing a wreath, so don't leave too many negative comments on how it looks. The pictures are also not as good as I wanted them to be since they were taken from my phone. Oh well. The finished one will be taken with a real camera.

The materials to make the ribbon wreath.

The ribbon wreath minus the MSU letters and football cut out. It's a terrible quality picture. I'm ashamed to say I am a photographer.

I am waiting on my letters and football to dry, then I will put them on the wreath. Just in time for football season!